TIRUCHY: It is that time of the year when fields would be reverberating with nadavu paatu as farm hands break into song while transplanting paddy saplings. The native tunes have since faded and replaced by the noise of motors now as farmers have shifted to mechanized transplanting.
Fear of infection, difficulties in ensuring distancing of workers and high costs are driving farmers to employ machine cultivation. Rajendran, a farmer from Tiruchy said, "It requires 10-12 farmers do manually plant saplings. With the usage of machines it is reduced to just two or three workers. Due to expenditure involved (pay for workers, providing safety equipment), many farmers have opted machine usage." This has rendered many farmworkers jobless.
Farmers in Lalgudi block, which is a major contributor for kuruvai cultivation in the district, have started the transplantation works. Farmers had begun nursery works in June itself.
According to an official in Agriculture department, "About 4,500 hectares of area is being used for kuruvai cultivation in Tiruchy. Now, farmers have also started preparation works for samba cultivation. Due to various issues, most of the farmers have opted usage of machines. Usually, the ratio of employing the methods is 50:50."
Masks & gloves at fields
The agriculture department has advised farmers to wear masks and gloves and also maintain social distance while working at the fields. However, farmers expressed their difficulties. Chellammal, an agriculture labour said, "It is difficult to pick up saplings or handle agriculture equipment using masks and gloves in knee-deep soggy fields." Officials concurred to it but asked them to strictly maintain physical distance and sanitise their hands properly before and after their works.
Protest to fix pay scale
Few farmers in Lalgudi area staged a protest demanding the agriculture department to fix a proper/definite pay scale for farmworkers. They alleged deviations in their pay scale.